Can't Stand the Suspense

There's so much stuff going on here at New Success that I can hardly sit still. It's just making me crazy not to be able to share all this stuff wtih you, but my business partner (he's the sane one) says I have to wait.

But I hate waiting, don't you?

I want what I want now, NOW, N O W !

You know what that's like, don't you? If you have kids, you're seeing it all over again in them as well. When a toddler is hungry, she doesn't understand why mommy can't feed her while she's driving. All she knows is that she wants to eat NOW! If you tell your little boy that you're going to take him to the park tomorrow, he will likely put on his shoes and his coat and head to teh door right now. All he heard was "park" and like a big slobbery dog, he's chomping at the bit to get a move on.

Are we born seeking instant gratification, or do we learn it over time?

I tend to think we're born with it becasue as babies our every need is met instantly (well, assuming our parents were taking their parental role seriously). So we kind of have to un-learn instant gratification.

As a parent, I even notice that while I'm teaching (attempting to teach I shoudl say) my daughter to have patience, there are certainly times when I give her the toy or a cookie just to keep peace until I can get her what she really requires.

I think we start out wanting instant gratification, adn as babies we get it. Then, as we get to be toddlers, we are told we have to wait. No wonder this is a hard lesson to learn! I once read an excellent children's book that said "It is far easier to train than to re-train." This really clicked with me.

Wow, I thought. How much simpler would my life be now if I had been trained in everything perfectly? I would have no limiting beliefs! I would not have to retrain my brain to think differently! What would that be like?

And then I get real. I remember that my parents (like yours, and yours, and yours over there) did the best they could. They trained/taught me based on THEIR beliefs (which may or may not have been the best possible beliefs to have, but it's what THEIR parents gave THEM when they were growing up...during hte DEpression, I might add). So much for blaming anyone...at some point we must take personal resposibility, in spite of what society preaches.

But we continue to want this instant gratification--we continue to rebel against "patience" and instead we prefer gimme gimme gimme and I mean now. As a culture, we have manifested massive ways to get infomration adn contact instantly.

Can you even remember a time wehn you had to wait until you got home to call someone and ask them a question? and when you had to wait for THEM to get home and get your message that you left on their answering machine? And then hopefully YOU were home when they called you back? That world seems a million miles away. I can barely remember calling someone and getting a busy signal because there was no call waiting yet.

What about the Internet?
Can you honestly recall a time when you couldn't just get any infomration you wanted for free at the touch of a few keystrokes? I am only 32 and I don't remember what it was like before the Internet and cell phones. I mean REALLY what it was like.

Which begs the qeustion, what on earth is next?

But before we go down that road, let's talk about success.

Do successful people have to have patience?

Think about the successful people you know. Are they patient or impatient? Do they demand instant gratification or are they willing to wait it out?

Does patience play a significant role in success?

It's hard to say without definitive research. Let's take a look at Donald Trump, a man who is successful at everything except hair. Do you think he is willing to wait in line at Starbucks? Doubtful. I'm sure he has a room full of lackeys to keep him caffeinated. He doesn't seem to have much patience with the blame-placing slackers on The Apprentice. And why should he? After all, he's a very busy man, he doesn't have time to waste on foolishness. But what if there's a real estate deal the Trump wants...and it requires patience to make it happen. Do you think he shows patience there? Undoubtedly so! And do you think he would rush into a multimillion dollar deal without getting the infomration he requires to make an informed decision based on calculated risk? Of course not!

So I think the answer to the question of the correlation between success and patience is twofold:

On the one hand, successful people are generally busy people. Which means they don't have time to waste. Which means they probably won't have patience if someone is wasting their time.

On the other hand, successful people don't make rash decisions; they take calculated risks. They are willing to wait if patience is required to get what they want.

So yes, patience is related to success. And successful people seem to know when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em when it comes to having patience.

My question to you today is this:

Are you using patience appropriately to move you closer toward your goals? If not, what changes can you implement beginning TODAY to exercise patience when it's required for success?